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Bulgarian folklore dances

The most typical for Bulgaria dances are horo and ratchenitsa. There's nothing accidental in them - the form of the dance, type of catch, movements of the arms, legs, body ... Bulgarian folk dances are subject to all laws of nature. The special grip in some hora - the right hand palm pointing upwards and the left one downwards - is related to the way of the energy fields in nature. Thanks to it during dance the dancing one allows positive energy in him/herself and then retransmits it. The dance in a circle adds to the feeling of completeness, strength and perfection and this inevitably leads to a good mood.

Almost every settlement in Bulgaria has its own vision of how to perform a certain horo and apart from that has its own authentic dances.

Horo is a collective dance, typical for the Bulgarian folklore, in which participants are arranged in a circle, line or other formation. The rhythm of the different hora varies from slow to fast as the irregular time prevails.

There are many kinds of hora, as the most famous are the Danavsko, Daichovo, Elenino.

Horo is almost a mandatory element of the Bulgarian wedding.

Ruchenitsa is a Bulgarian folk dance in rhythm 7/8. It is danced alone or in pairs. No grip of the arms, unless the choreography requires so.

The dance is popular in Bulgaria, but in the different ethnographic regions is danced with the typical style of the corresponding area.

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Folk music instruments

Bulgarian folk instruments are the musical instruments used in the performance of Bulgarian folklore music, as some of them are characteristic of almost the whole territory of Bulgaria, while others focus on specific folklore region.

In Bulgarian folk music are used five basic folk instruments - kaval, bagpipe, gadulka, tambura and tupan, and ones characteristic for specific folklore area such as tarambuka (kind of a djembe drum), duduk, ovcharska svirka, dvoyanka, ocarina, harmonica, cafara, jew's-harp, chanove, zourna and others.

Nowadays, few people make Bulgarian folk instruments that meet the requirements of quality and true sound.

Kaval is a chromatic end-blown flute. The name "kaval" comes from the Turkish word meaning "long wooden shepherd's flute." Its prototypes existed before Christ.

It is believed that first shepherds used a hollow wooden sticks to reproduce sound that can affect livestock.

Kaval is an ancient Thracian musical instrument. Most likely this is the primary wind instrument in the world. Such instruments have been found in excavations along the Tigris and Euphrates, where originate from the earliest civilizations. Also such instruments have been found in excavations in Egypt and today are part of Egypt's traditional music instruments. Differences between the instruments predecessors and kaval is just the length of the tube and the openings available.

Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Bagpipe is a traditional folk instrument in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. Bulgarian bagpipe consists of a bag of kidskin, which is its air tank and of wooden parts.

Gadulka is a traditional Bulgarian bowed string instrument. The gadulka is an integral part of Bulgarian traditional instrumental ensembles, commonly played in the context of dance music. The gadulka commonly has three (occasionally four) main strings with up to ten sympathetic resonating strings underneath. Only the main melodic strings are touched by the player's fingers and the strings are never pressed all the way down to touch the neck. The gadulka is held vertically, with the bow held perpendicular in an under-hand hold.

Tambura is a musical instrument of the group of string instruments. It is typical for Bulgaria, especially for the Southeast and Pirin, Macedonia and the Balkan countries. It has a pear-shaped body made of maple or pear.

Tupan is a large double-headed drum that is played with sticks. These drums have both a deep bass sound and a thin treble sound due to their construction and playing style, where different heads and sticks are used to produce different sounds on the same drum. It has many names depending on the country and region. For centuries the tapan is irreplaceable at Macedonian and Bulgarian village festivities such as weddings and celebrations of patron saints of homes and villages. The drum shell is made of hard wood, perhaps walnut or chestnut, though many woods may be in use depending on the region where the drum is made.To make the shell, the wood is boiled in water to make it bendable, and then it is bent into a cylindrical shape and fastened together. The heads are usually goat skin, and they are shaped into circles by wooden frames.Rope threaded back and forth across the shell of the drum, from head to head in a zigzag pattern, holds the heads on the drum and provides tension for tuning the drum. Sometimes metal rings or leather straps join neighboring strands of the rope in order to allow for further tuning. Two rings are sometimes attached to the main rope where a belt-like rope is threaded through to hold the drum.

Tarambuka is a musical percussion instrument. In the past tarambuka body was made from clay and shaped as bottomless vase. On one side was stretched skin (usually lamb) with tight ropes. Now tarambuka has a metal corpus in the form of a glass and two holes as on the wider one is stretched membrane (skin) through a mechanism of ring and screws.

Dvoyanka is a woodwind musical instrument, traditional for the Bulgarian folk music. The characteristic of the instrument sound somewhat reminiscents of that of the pipe, for which dvoyanka is sometimes referred to as "small pipe". Bulgarian dvoyanka is double flute (kaval) made from a single piece of wood in which are carved two parallel tubes.

Clay ocarina is a wind musical instrument with oval form. The standard length is 12-15cm. Ocarina is famous worldwide and in our country mainly in northwestern Bulgaria.

Cafara is small Balkan folk woodwind musical instrument similar to the kaval and shepherd's flute. Equipped with holes for 6 fingers arranged alternately along the cafara without resonator openings.

Dramboy (known too as jew's-harp, "jew's-harp") is a musical percussion instrument of the group of the labial metal music instruments. It is a metal plate where the mouth serves as a resonator. The instrument originated in India and is known in Europe since the early 14th century. In Bulgaria it is known from the 18th century.

Chan is a musical percussion instrument of the group of the bells. It has a conical shape. Used in Bulgarian folklore, in the dances of the mummers and as a signal instrument in domestic animals.

Zurna is a woodwind musical instrument with a double reed plate for sound producing. It is distributed mainly in the Middle East, India, the Balkans, and in some nations of the Caucasus. With zurna is performed mostly folk music and is used in folk festivals. As a musical instrument in Bulgaria zurna is used mostly in border areas and southwestern region of the Rhodope Mountains.

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The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices

"The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices" is the name Bulgarian State Television Female Vocal Choir became famous of after their highly successful album "The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices" Part 2.

After its issue the choir, founded in 1952, became world famous and toured worldwide. With Dora Hristova conducting the singers sing in one of the most prestigious concert halls in Europe, Asia, America and Africa. Several times the choir was nominated for a Grammy Award and received it in 1990 for the album' 'Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares. Volume Two'' (The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices. Part 2). Again in 1994 they were nominated for "Grammy" for their album of Christmas and lazarski songs "Ritual".

In 2005, singers are invited to sing in Luxembourg during the signing of the accession of Bulgaria and Romania to the European Union and the choir was named Cultural Ambassador of Bulgaria in Europe.

In 2008 the singers recorded the soundtrack for the popular computer game "Alone in the dark." In the same year they gave a solo concert at the European Parliament in Strasbourg. At the end of their twelfth tour in America in 2008 in "Kennedy Center" in Washington the choir made a big choral concert featuring Bobby McFerrin who sang several songs with "The Mystery of Bulgarian Voices".

Foreign press spared no superlatives for our singers and their art: "The most beautiful music in the world" ("St. Louis Post"), "The most striking, most beautiful, most mysterious, the most tempting records you have ever heard" ("Washington magazine"), "Incomparable with anything you've heard before" ("Buffalo News"), "Sold as a pop album", ("Wall Street Journal").

In its half-century career the choir has 9 albums, over 700 concerts on 5 continents, a prestigious Grammy Award and many fans who profess different religions music. The choir participates in the program of UN for peace.

They create a sensation everywhere they sing, reveal a new dimension of sound, more strangely beautiful than anything you've ever heard. Ancient and modern, smart and naive, sophisticated and simple, popular and classical, mundane and spiritual - this sound does not fall into any known category. Every person touched by this source of magic feels complete and timeless.

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Nosii - folk costumes

National costume (called "nosiya" in Bulgarian) is traditional clothing of a nation or ethnic group, created by the attitudes and tastes of the people.

Bulgarian traditional nosiya is a general term, which is used for the Bulgarian folk costumes from the Revival to the mid-20th century.

It reflects the specific, traditional culture and lifestyle of the Bulgarian people.

According to ethnographers its origin is mainly Slavonic, but there can be found too traces of the clothing of Thracians and proto-Bulgarians, as well as of the clothing of the people, which the Bulgarians were in contact with - Turks, Greeks, Albanians, Vlachs.

By its nature, nosiya is an everyday work clothing that through artistic decoration acquired festive look.

It is distinguished by exceptional practicalness when working, at traditional rituals or celebrations.

Nosiya is male and female, festive and everyday one as in each one of the Bulgarian ethnographic regions it is distinguished by its own specificity and originality.

Female nosii: (plural for "nosiya")

Two-apron nosiya - shirt, two aprons - one tied to the waist in front, one to the back, belt.

After the Liberation in 1878, occur significant changes under the influence of urban clothing.

Today nosii are used in amateur art activities, some of the design elements - within the art, crafts and more rarely in modern clothing.

Each year in Zheravna village is held a Festival of the folk nosiya in the week (Friday, Saturday and Sunday) after Virgin Mary's Day (August 15). Anyone wishing to attend must be wearing a folk nosiya (authentic, stage or stylized). Allowed is too clothing from the early twentieth century, as well as one traditional for other countries. Officers may be wearing antique military uniforms and weapons.

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Bistrishkite babi

"Bistrisa babi" (literally the grandmas from Bistritsa) is a group of authentic folklore singers of Sofia, village of Bistritsa.

It was founded around 60 years ago and presents authentic songs from Shopluka.

Due to its peculiar polyphonic singing the group of Bistritsa Babi became known worldwide. Their singing is unique, very ancient, preserved from the pre-Christian era. Experts define it as unique polyphony on 3 voices. Polyphony is an archaic type of singing with typical melody preserved throughout the ages.